Chaos Theory
by AnomolyInPi-Minor
Summary: …more from little Albert and his family, a companion piece to “Einstein’s Wisdom “that could follow a few years after the first story. you don't need to read that first


Summary: …more from little Albert and his family, a companion piece to "Einstein's Wisdom "that could follow a few years after the first story. (you don't need to read that first)

Disclaimer: I don't own any characters known from the CBS show NUMB3RS.

A./N.: Sorry, to all that I have talked to about this story. I had planned to have this on a huge while earlier but I never got the ending to work out good. I did my best and hope you like it.

I have not seen the Eppesode "Hydra" so far which means I have no idea about the results of Charmitas discussion about the having-kids topic. So I hope I don't get too OOC with this.

**Chaos Theory **

"All right sweetie. It's time to go to bed."

His daughter Neela was sending him a pleading look with her puppy dog eyes that made him grin.

"No, you don't need to try this. The movie is over. It's time to go to bed like you promised and by the way: This is look is not working on me. I invented it… or at least I brought it to perfection. Come on tooth brushing or we cannot eat all this sweet stuff again when mom is out of town."

Charlie picked her up from the couch leaving blanket, pillows and the leftovers of their after dinner snack all around the living room. The house was a little messy even for his standards. Other would call it a complete chaos or think it was a crime scene left without being taped. Amita planned to return tomorrow at late morning or for an early lunch and he planned to surprise her with a nice meal and better not this chaos. So father and daughter had some serious cleaning work to do tomorrow because the rest of the house didn't look that much better than this, their upstairs bedrooms being the worst as usual. He would start as soon as Neela was in bed: living room, kitchen… maybe even trying to start a load of laundry… but one task at a time. Tooth were brushed in a little and she was already wearing her PJs. Cartoon watching was a great way to spend an evening and having kids was a perfect excuse to just do that. Maybe Amita and he should have some more so he could continue watching them without needing excuses for it. He would need the younger ones when his daughter would come to the age everyone reached and would start to explain to be too old for this childish behavior. He hoped she would wait with growing up for a long time.

Her bedroom looked like just the rest of the house, only more chaotic, much like his own when his wife was away. She grinned up at him as they walked through all of the stuff laying around on the floor knowing he couldn't do much about it having his own room looking just like this.

Tired as she was it wasn't that hard to convince her to go to bed. But she had to test the rules again. He kissed her good night.

"Sleep well my little princess and collect your strength because we need to clean up the whole house tomorrow before mummy arrives ok?"

"But she know that my room looks like this… like yours. " She grinned knowing that she had scored again.

"Yeah she knows." He sighed

" But she hasn't given up hope yet with you...and me." He sighed again"I need to tidy up too. But you're right. She is used to it in our rooms… that's why we will start cleaning downstairs and in the other rooms upstairs… save the best for last. But now… you" He pointed at her with his finger "need to sleep...unless you want to help me cleaning up all the stuff downstairs."

Her face spoke volumes and with a yawn she finally laid down in the pillows.

He pushed some curls out of her face and left the room turning on her night light on the way. The stars of the night sky now danced all over the rooms ceiling. The night light had been a gift from Larry to her birth and she still loved it. Larry had also taught Neela about the stairs visible and invisible and she started to recognize the first constellations herself. Today she recognized some too and hoped that there would also be a falling star again. She already knew what she wanted: daddy was forgetful… and with the help of a star he would hopefully forget about the cleaning tomorrow.

While his daughter had hopeful thoughts Charlie was already back downstairs… and grumpy. Damn was this a mess the two of them had created since Amitas departure. He now tried to look at the living room with his wife's eyes and that made him realize that he had even more to do.

He decided to at first get all the dirty dishes from kitchen and living room in the dishwasher. He looked around on the entire floor to make sure nothing was left and started the full machine. What didn't fit in came in the sink. They would do this second load with the breakfast cereal bowls tomorrow.

Returning to the living room through the kitchens swinging door he heard a noise from upstairs. Maybe Neela tried again to hike to the solarium to use the telescope and check if the stars in her room where really the same like outside. But she better did not tonight, too late for that. He slowly and quietly got up the stairs. The door of her room that he had left slightly ajar was now fully closed and he could see light shining through the gap between floor and door. _No telescoping?_ He tiptoed the short distance and opened the door as noiseless as possible. Just to find an empty bed.

His brow shot up.

"Neela? …Sweetie? Where are you?

When she came crawled out from under the bed he took a deep breath in to start to complain to her… but was stopped when she rushed over to him crying.

"Daddy… Albert is gone."

"Shhh. Don't cry." He hugged her. "Don't worry. He's smart. He will come back. He's probably somewhere around the house using the chance of his live to collect data for a chaos theory."

She started to giggle a little.

"But I can't sleep without him. I want him to be here. He will be afraid to spend the whole dark night without me. He will get cold."

He smiled. His daughter would get hard to discuss with when she was older.

"What about if you go to bed now and wait here for him… I bring him back to you as soon as I find him. "

"No. I want him now. Let me look for him. Now!"

"Ok." He had to be diplomatic here "We can look in your room for 10 minutes. But then you sleep with or without him."

With that she stormed the room to start her search without even responding to his offer.

Charlie looked under the bed again hitting his head when he flinched because of a loud rumple behind him. The big treasure chest normally full of toys lay empty on the floor while his daughter was digging all among the former content for her beloved doll. At this rate they would create so much new chaos that Einstein would come out on his own soon if he could. Maybe they should just build a trap and hope for the best.

"What do you think little one, this is not a good way to find him isn't it?" he indicated the new messes they had just created. "If we clean all this off the floor we will get to him faster."

"Ok. We can try" She still sounded a little like tears.

The new plan worked well, but not for the wanted goal. 10 minutes into the search he had realized that she would not go to bed now so he said nothing and let her just continue to clean the room. Half an hour later the room was clean like it hadn't been in an eternity. Amita would be proud of them if she would be here: All the toys where in the right places and the dirty laundry in the bin by the door. The papers and pencils organized on the wooden table.

But still there was no doll.

"He is not here. Where is Albert, daddy? Albert? Albert?" She started to cry again and snuggled closer to Charlie, silent prove that he had gotten her tired after all. Still she had not lost her trust. Daddy would be able to solve this. Daddy could do everything involving math or science. And searching Albert was absolutely involving math.

Charlie left his daughter in his arms and just hugged her closer as he was standing up from the carpet covered floor and carried her into her bed another time.

"Not sleeping daddy. We haven't found him yet. Need to find him."

The sad and tired child was heartbreaking.

"Want any other doll or stuffed animal instead?"He offered.

"No want Albert."

He had only one last chance left so he tried it.

"Want to sleep in my bedroom till I found Albert?

Her face lit up.

"Your bedroom? "

"But only for tonight and only until I have found him, ok?"

"He is there. I'm sure he will be there, so much chaos data." And with that she jumped out of his arms and the bed. Momentary caught between laughter and surprise he followed her to his own bedroom. Her train of thought wasn't that stupid after all.

Waking up early this morning she had joined him in the big double bed to wake him up with a pillow fight. Einstein was with them at this time for sure. So the hunt continued a few rooms down the corridor. The similarity of the two rooms was stunning: dirty clothes all over the floor next to piles of books and papers. There were also pencils, blackboards and even toys here.

Again the search was partly successful… He had looked for his Rubik's cube andthe Tesseract a while now. Having noticed that cleaning instead of a wild search, which involved creating more chaos, was an easier and faster way to success they started right away with this method. He took care of the papers and books letting her carry the clothes to the laundry bin in the corner, toys to the shelves and pencils to the desk. He hoped she would fall asleep making the bed but she got more awake every minute.

Soon later also this room was cleaner than it had been since a too long time for Amitas like. A short visit and cleaning in the bathroom to not leave this possibility out brought no results again. The solarium took longer but no Einstein doll was still the same result.

It had gotten late, very late for small ones when the upstairs part of the house was completely clean and ready for the moms return. It had gone faster than he would have imagined it. But that had a good reason. Against all expectations and their normal habits they were motivated to do it. Normally a raindrop on the window or some dust reflected from the sunlight flowing in the air was enough of a pattern to distract him… and like father like daughter. An empty sheet of paper and a pencil and his daughter would draw for hours instead of finishing the cleaning task. Finding a piece of chalk would send them both to the nearest chalkboards and so on.

But for now the doll hunt continued downstairs… a whole cleaning marathon. At least they hadn't been in the garage or garden today, which was still leaving enough rooms for the doll to hide.

But at one point in time a few hours later even the downstairs part of the house was done. A short break to eat a snack and clean the kitchen afterwards included. At first he had tried every few minutes to get his daughter to agree to go to bed or at least go to sleep somewhere else like on the couch. No chance. So he finally gave up asking after midnight and just waited for his chance. It never came. And so did the plush Albert Einstein.

*******

When Amita opened the door around 10.30 she expected two happy but guilty looking people to meet her. Behind them a house only half cleaned. But it all came different. No one meet her at the door. No reaction to her "Hello".

The house was quiet and empty on the first look and what gave her almost a heart attack: completely and absolutely neat. Amita was fighting the urge to check again that she was in the right house. She was shutting out some still burning lights with a knowing thought of her absent minded husband who had seemed to forget to do it ones again.

She could not stop to stare. Everything was not just tidy up on Charlie's way, more like he had paid a cleaning crew to do a miracle. In search of this cleaning crew or the benevolent house elf she passed the whole house room for room going also upstairs. She was sure to be in the wrong house or in the wrong dimension when she past first her own bedroom and then her daughters. She did not ever got Neela to clean her room up herself. She also never got her to let her clean it. Instead Neela insisted to let it stay chaotic; her argument being that she would not find anything ever again if her mother did changes in her system.

So how the hell had her little… no big chaos masters managed to create this status?

She would ask them both as soon as she found them. Maybe they were just out feeding the koi or in the backyard or the garage wrapped up in playing.

Being already upstairs Amita left her bags in the bedroom and got back downstairs to take a look in the garden for her two still missing loved ones. Half across the living room she noticed that it was not empty as she had thought it was with receiving no signs of identification after her call.

They lay curled up on the corner of the couch fast asleep. Charlie was half up in a sitting position leaning with his back, side and head against the couch and its pillows. Her daughter was curled up against him, head resting on his shoulder, one hand in his tousled hair. Neela was wearing her favorite bright green PJ while Charlie was wearing sweatpants and a T. Both were quietly snoring in an almost synchronic rhythm and she noticed ones again how similar they not only looked but also behaved, even in sleep. She couldn't do much but grin….and trying to fight the urge to wake her husband with tickling to ask him how he had managed to clean the house. And also she would like to know why they were sleeping, in his case fully clothed, on the couch instead of their beds, why they were still sleeping at this time anyway. But some tiredness from the long journey was still in her bones so she decided to just take the place next to them and snuggle close. It came like it had to come and Amita fell asleep in just a few minutes.

*******

When Amita woke up it was over two hours later and by a kiss from her husband. He had made the impossible done and got his arm around her in sleep.

"Welcome back." He kissed her again

"Where have you found him?"He whispered.

Amita raised an eyebrow.

"Albert." He indicated at the doll only barely visible between the pillows next to her.

"We searched the whole house twice to find him "he added.

"Really? You should do that more often. I think I will take him with me the next time when the result is coming back to a house like this again."

"Please don't do that. It's impossible to get her to bed without him. So where have you found him then? "

"To be honest… I have no idea. Must have picked him up somewhere along the way searching the house to find you"

"Great. So he came back by himself after all. But he is back, that's all that matters for me. She threatened she would call Don and ask him for a search party"

"She really said that?" Amita lightly kissed her still sleeping daughter as Charlie laid Neela down on the couch next to him. "Thank god she found another crazy haired genius to cuddle with" and with that Amita pushed a strain of Charlie's hair out of his face.

"You really start to rival Einstein with these"

"Good that you like my hair that way"

"Mhm, seems like I do. I missed you. Let's just stay on the couch for the rest of the day. It's really comfy"

"And what's with dinner… or lunch" Charlie started to scan the couch table.

"Should have left the leftovers around"

"What kind of leftovers?"Amita asked curious.

"The ones that are better to be cleaned away when you arrive" he smile innocently.

"What have you feed my daughter professor?" Amita asked playfully threatening, moving her fingers closer to his middle.

"Nothing, I'm serious. I would never break your rules just because you're not here. "

"Liar, Bad liar" she said and started to tickle him.

The movements of the couch and the noises they made were finally waking their daughter up. Still a little tired Neela cleaned her eyes from sleep and sat up from her bed of pillows and the blanket where Charlie had laid her down a minute earlier. After a second of getting orientated she looked over to her parents and jumped up to welcome her mommy back.

"You're back" she screamed happily. But instead of immediately hugging Amita she grabbed Einstein first, hugged him and then got over to kiss and hug her mommy too.

"Did she mean you or the doll?" Charlie seemed unsure while Amita didn't seem to care too much now that she had her daughter back. But the peace was not for long.

"Albert is a little hungry. Can we go eat some cereals for breakfast?"

"I think we should try lunch" said Charlie checking his watch.

"Ok. Is mommy cocking? " it sounded hopefully.

"Don't worry. I'm sure she will do that" It seemed like his daughter was not completely happy with his cooking skills.

"Yeah, better get something healthy in the two of you again. What about some white chicken with salad? "

"Yammie"

"Seems like someone is glad that you're back"

"My Neela and her genius with messy hair and expertise in chaos theory" Amita said tousling the hair of the doll.

"My Einstein" Neela pulled the doll closer to herself afraid Albert would disappear again.

"Yes, her Einstein" said Charlie looking a little jealous.

"What luck I have my own"

"You have an Einstein doll, mammy?"

"No, no doll. But I have my own genius with curly hair and a lot of practice in creating data for chaos."

A dry "ha-ha" of her husband filled her speaking pause.

"…and what I also have is no motivation to cook. Want to go to eat chicken with salad in a restaurant?" she didn't really expected contra.

"Can Einstein come along?"

"Okay" she had expected that question "but now go upstairs and see if you find something to wear. I help you put it on in a minute. "

And with that they were sending Einstein plus owner up the stairs. The couple followed Neela up only seconds later. Charlie dressed himself in street clothes while Amita tried to help her never-stop-moving daughter in a skirt and T that they had picked out together. Einstein came in the backpack with the star print.

The couple left the porch hand in hand, their daughter sitting on her dad's shoulders. All were having no idea that they would be one family member more in just a few months.

**End** (for now)

Someday I will probably continue this plot with another story and maybe even make a little series out of it but for now I'm done. Hope you liked it.


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